


Across the Stars

by ShelleyBean



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Awkwardness, Family, Gen, Love, Marriage, Meeting Family, Prime universe, USS Discovery (Star Trek)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-07-28 23:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20072188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShelleyBean/pseuds/ShelleyBean
Summary: When the USS Discovery comes across a stranded shuttle, Captain Pike and the rest of the crew are not prepared for the shuttle's passenger and what they will come to mean to them both personally and professionally.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to say a massive thank you to Sciosophia for being my beta. I have had the idea of this story in my head for a while and her guidance and comments have helped so much.

After the successful rescue of Ensign Tilly and the re-emergence of Dr Culber from the Mycelial network, and the ‘accord’ with Leland about the finding of Lt. Spock, Pike had cleared _Discovery_ to stand down with Admiral Cornwell. 

_“Admiral, Discovery needs repairs; she was used as a doorstop in the Mycelial network, which ate through 75% of the ship’s hull. If you want me to work with Leland and Section 31, I need a ship that’s not falling to pieces, otherwise, Starfleet might as well have left me on the Enterprise. Two, maybe three days tops, we’ll get the necessities done and the crew can get some downtime.”_

There hadn’t been many off watches to relax or think about anything other than the Red Angel and the mysterious signals. Trying to find somewhere quiet to stand _Discovery _down was a welcome change, and the Rosafia Nebula ticked all the boxes. 

“Sir, we are approaching the coordinates of the nebula and I’m preparing to drop us out of warp,” Lt Detmer reported. 

Lt Owosekun started to conduct the necessary scans. 

“Sir, we have a shuttle approaching off the starboard bow,” she reported. “It's a Starfleet vessel and the ID says….” 

She paused slightly, double-checking what her sensors were saying. 

“What does the ID say, Owo?” Pike asked. 

Owo turned to look at the Captain. “…the ID, sir…it says it's your shuttle, the captain's shuttle.”

"On screen. Saru, Burnham, full scans. Nhan, find out if we’re missing any shuttles.” 

“Sensors detect that the shuttle’s hull is intact but that it has sustained significant damage. There is one life sign on board, a human female,” Commander Saru reported.

"Yellow alert. Rhys, have weapons warmed in case anything sinister makes an appearance." 

"The shuttle’s signature is off..." Commander Burnham paused, frowning at her workstation. 

“Off how, Burnham?” 

“I’m not sure, Sir, I need a moment. Computer, compare quantum signature of unidentified shuttle and that of ISS Shenzhou.” Burnham waited patiently for the results.

“Inconclusive quantum signatures, unable to identify quantum signature variance.”

“Bryce, open a channel and let's see if we can get some answers.”

"Sir, wait." 

The Bridge team’s attention rested on the Science Officer.

“Burnham?" Pike enquired. His tone indicated that she needed to explain herself. She remembered that she had asked for more time to have the conversation about Georgiou and Tyler, but she hadn’t expected to have it so soon. 

Burnham looked over at Saru, who saw the same readings that had caused her outburst. 

"I would say that now is no better time than any to inform the Captain," Saru invited Burnham to continue. 

"The readings that I am seeing, we have all seen them before.” 

“Go on,” Pike invited. 

“When we jumped to the Terran Universe, our sensors said that we were in Organia at the location of Starbase 46, but there was no starbase. Instead we were faced with the debris of a Klingon ship that had been fired upon with Federation weapons. The ship’s computer could not determine the Klingon hull density.” Michael paused momentarily. “The quantum signatures of the _Cooper _and a Vulcan cruiser that we encountered were inconsistent with _Discovery’s_, and given that all matter within the universe vibrates with the same quantum signature, it was surmised that we were in an alternate universe.” 

Burnham brought up the hull density readings and the quantum signature for the shuttle. 

“Sir, these are the hull readings. This is quantum signature for the shuttle, and _this_,” Burnham brought up the another set of readings to overlap, “is the quantum signature for a Terran ship. They are virtually identical.” 

Pike studied the information presented. 

“So, what are you saying, Burnham? That we shouldn’t ask whoever is on that shuttle if they need help?” 

Burnham took a cursory look around the bridge; thankfully it was only a skeleton shift and _she_ wasn’t there. 

“From what we were told when we returned, Mirror _Discovery _was destroyed with an assumed total crew loss. The Captain was a ruthless murderer with absolutely no compassion.”

Pike’s expression told Burnham he was concerned. “And the Captain’s name?” 

Pike waited patiently as Burnham accessed the ship’s log, half expecting to be shown a mirror version of Leland or maybe Stefan Jackson, the narcissistic know-it-all he had had the displeasure of knowing at the Academy. But the image that stared at him from the viewscreen was definitely someone he was not expecting to see.

“The Captain of ISS _Discovery _was Captain Sylvia Tilly, otherwise known as Captain Killy.” 

Burnham’s voice was factual and to the point. Only those that knew her could detect the undertone of disgust in her words.

Pike stood and moved towards the viewscreen, as though moving towards it would make it seem more real. Turning to face his team, he looked around the bridge; other than an eyebrow raise from Nhan, no one else was shocked or surprised by the image. There on the viewscreen was the over-exuberant, happy-to-please, talented and intelligent Ensign dressed in what looked like battle armour. 

“Sir, if there were any survivors of Mirror _Discovery, _and given that it’s the Captain’s shuttle that has escaped, I would advise _extreme_ caution when considering bringing the passenger onboard.” 

“None of our shuttles are missing, Captain,” Nhan reported. 

Pike returned to his chair and stared at the image of Ensign Tilly for a few moments more, unsure what to make of the information he had just been told. Bringing a potentially dangerous woman on board which could put the safety of his crew at risk was one thing, but then, leaving a damaged shuttle adrift in space with a potentially injured innocent passenger was another. 

“Suggestions.” 

“Given that we do not know if it is Captain Tilly or a female member of Mirror _Discovery _on board, I would advise that the passenger is beamed directly to sickbay with a security detail and the shuttle is brought into the cargo bay and secured,” Saru offered. 

Burnham agreed that was the best course of action in this situation. “Sir, I would recommend that Ensign Tilly is kept away from sickbay...just in case.” 

Pike agreed.

“Bridge to sickbay.” 

“Pollard here.” 

“We’re beaming a visitor directly to sickbay, a security detail will be with you shortly. We need everything you can find out about them.” 

The doctor acknowledged the order. Pike turned to Nhan. 

“Have a security detail stationed in sickbay with phasers. The Doctor might not like it, but I want to be safe rather than sorry.”

“Bridge to Engineering, we have a shuttle be loaded into the shuttle bay. See what you can find out about it.” 

...

Dr Pollard waited for the transporter beam to finish. The security detail that the Captain had sent was poised ready. The passenger, a young girl no older than about 16, lay unconscious on the biobed, her arms covered in burns, her hair singed at the edges. 

"You can stand down, crewman, I don't think she's going to harm us while she sleeps." Dr Pollard tapped the young Security Officer on the shoulder. "You can wait over there out of the way." She pointed to the waiting area. 

Dr Pollard called over Aimee Brownsword, an experienced nurse who she had known for much of her career, and who was also the latest addition to the _Discovery_'s medical staff. 

"Let's start with full med scans, internal and external, and see if we can clean up these burns and cuts. I'll run a full blood workup and DNA tests and we can give her the immunisations as necessary." 

Aimee nodded in agreement. She set to work, noting each injury for the report and preparing the skin regeneration. 

“Don’t worry darling, you are safe now,” she whispered as she started to clean up the young girl's face. 

Dr Pollard took a sample of the girl's blood and ran the blood work and DNA tests, now compulsory thanks to the Klingons using Ash Tyler as their science experiment. 

Whilst the computer ran the blood work and DNA tests, Dr Pollard collected the medical reports from Aimee as she finished each one, and began collating them for the Captain. It had been her experience that _most _captains really only wanted to know if their crew, or in this case their passenger, was either going to live or die, if they were infectious, and when they could go back on duty. But Captain Pike was different; he _wanted _to know how they were doing, whether or not they would be okay. He was a rare find who openly cared for his crew, even if his command was temporary. 

A flashing alert at the station panel signalled that the blood work and DNA scan was complete. Aimee took a cursory read through the first few pages of the report before stopping in her tracks. 

Dr Pollard looked up from her desk. "Is that the DNA report?" 

Aimee read and walked. 

"Erm, yes, sorry. Haematology was my major at the Academy and since the incident with the Klingons, I thought I might learn something new from our patient. I must say, I've never seen a protein marker like this before." Aimee handed over the PADD to Pollard as she continued talking. "I mean, I've seen that kind of marker in animals of different variants of the same species, but not in humans. Very strange the computer can't identify it." 

Dr Pollard frowned deeply as she read through the results. 

“Everything okay?” Aimee queried as the doctor swivelled around, quickly punching in her authorisation code and accessing medical records. 

“No. I don’t know. I need to check something.” 

Scrolling down to a record marked only as “_EPG”_, she transferred the haematology report on to the larger screen. Requesting the computer compare the current sample with that of _“EPG”_, it noted that there were similarities but that they were not a match. 

“Look there,” Aimee pointed to a marker within the reports. “The protein markers for these two samples are the same, except they are in slightly different places.” She requested that the computer bring up her own blood tests as a third comparison. “But then, looking at mine, the protein marker is in a completely different place all together. The strange thing is, all three examples are for human females.” 

Pollard grabbed the PADD and continued to read the rest of the report, not really paying attention as Aimee requested the computer run more simulations and further testing, until the CMO station alerted that there was an update to the report.

“What the hell…” 

Aimee looked over from the bio-bed at Tracy's exclamation. She was prepping the bio-skin regeneration patches to help heal the trauma to the young girl’s arms. 

“Doctor?” Aimee questioned as her colleague pushed the comms button and requested an audience with the Captain. She asked the computer to run the results again and that they be sealed with her authorisation code.

“Sir, I need to speak with you privately regarding our guest.” 

Pollard removed the bio-protection apron as she spoke and sent it down the chute to the incinerators. She called out to the young crewman who had been sat in the waiting bay since their patient had arrived. 

“No one is to come anywhere near that girl until I get back from seeing the Captain. That’s an order.” 

The crewman nodded without question, even though they were a little unsure as to why the doctor would ever give such an order.

Pausing at the end of the biobed, Tracy looked down at the young girl. DNA didn’t lie and now she saw it in the girl’s hair and features; there was just no denying it. 

Sighing, Pollard made her way to the Captain’s ready room for probably the most interesting conversation of her career. 

...

“What’s the problem, Doctor?” 

Pike invited Pollard to take a seat at the briefing table. They were joined by Burnham, Saru and Tyler, the Section 31 liaison. Pollard nodded her greetings around the table, her eyes lingering a little longer on Tyler. Her appointment as Chief Medical Officer was because of Hugh Culber’s murder, and now she was sat opposite the man that had killed him. 

“I have an update regarding our guest.” 

She shared the report with the rest of the table, holding back the sealed pages. 

Tyler broke the silence first, asking the question that everyone was thinking. “Is she Terran?” 

Pollard nodded to his PADD. 

“No.”

Tyler waited for her to continue, but instead, she turned her attention to the Captain and continued with her report. 

“Our passenger is a 16-year-old human female. Medically she is fine, aside from a few burns and superficial cuts. We have conducted a full set of medical scans, including the requisite blood work and DNA tests that Starfleet now requests, thanks to the Klingons,” Pollard was anything but subtle with her feelings. “And, well Sir, the results are interesting. She is not Terran. However, that said, there is a marker in her blood that is similar to that which we see in a Terran.” 

Tyler looked over at the doctor. “She has a marker that’s similar to a Terran but she isn’t Terran. How is that possible?” 

Dr Pollard couldn’t provide an answer and Burnham interrupted Tyler before he could ask any more questions. 

“It could mean she is from another alternate universe.” 

Pike sighed. 

“Another alternate universe? As in, different from our universe and the Terrans?”

Burnham continued, “We know that there is at least one alternate universe, Georgiou is the evidence of that. Are you familiar with the 20th-century earth physicist, Stephen Hawkings?” 

Pike and Tyler nodded. Saru shook his head but gestured that Burnham should continue. 

“He theorised that instead of there being one single universe, there was a smaller range of possible universes. So if the Terrans are one alternate universe, then it is logical to assume that this girl could be from another one.” 

“That could explain why the computer could not distinguish the signature from the shuttle from a Terran one, and the protein marker in her blood,” Saru surmised. 

“It could also explain how she is related to two members of the ship’s crew,” Pollard added. 

This new information captured everyone’s attention. 

“Go on,” Pike requested. _This day could not get any weirder,_ he thought.

“The now mandatory test includes a routine chromosome test, and the results are then run through the Starfleet database for possible matches. The results are somewhat surprising considering what you are suggesting about alternate universes, but it did come back with two matches.” 

Pollard gestured for the officers to continue reading the report. 

Burnham’s head shot up, her eyes wide with surprise. 

“The young girl is related to Tilly? As in, the girl is a sibling?” 

Pollard shook her head. 

“No, the chromosome test looks at mitochondrial DNA. In most cases, a person only receives this DNA from their mother.” 

Saru snorted in surprise. “Are you saying that the female in sickbay is Ensign Tilly’s daughter?” 

Pollard nodded. “Whilst it’s impossible that _our_ Ensign Tilly has a 16 year old daughter, DNA doesn’t lie.” 

“And the other crew member?” Pike enquired. The idea of having to tell two members of the crew that they had a 16 year old child from an alternate universe was definitely going to go top of weird conversations list. 

“You, Sir.” Pollard dropped the bombshell. 

The whole table went quiet and read the final pages of the report. 

“I ran the scans through the Starfleet database twice as I thought that the first time around there could have been an error of some kind. However, the chromosomal DNA test came back as a positive match to yourself and Ensign Sylvia Tilly. The young girl in sickbay is, in the biological sense, your daughter.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Pike has to deal with the revelation of the identity of the passenger onboard the shuttle found by Discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologises that you have had to wait a little while for another chapter. Unfortunately, real-life got in the way and took over. 
> 
> Once again I would like to say a huge thank you to Sciosophia for being my beta. I love your comments!!
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pike didn’t react externally to the bombshell that Dr Pollard had just offloaded. He calmly carried on as if it were an everyday topic of conversation. 

“She’s my daughter.” He paused. “And in the biological sense, her mother is Ensign Tilly.” 

Pollard nodded again. Saying it out loud didn't make it sound any less strange or awkward than it did the first time. 

“That is what the DNA results have come back with. I can run further analysis if you prefer, but the chromosome test is a basic check for paternity, and…” 

Pike held up his hand for the Doctor to stop. 

“I understand, Doctor.” He looked around at his two senior officers and Tyler. “Okay. Firstly, this information is only divulged on a strictly need-to-know basis. Any reports are sealed with command authorisation and under no circumstances,” Pike turned his attention to Tyler, “is this information or the existence of this girl to leave Discovery.” 

“Yes, sir,” they chorused.

Pike leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. 

“Ok, Doctor Pollard, have a word with the Quartermaster and see that our guest is assigned some quarters once she has been given the all-clear. Saru, speak to Engineering. Let’s see what we can learn about the shuttle given that the computer could not identify the difference between its quantum signature and that of a Terran ship. We might even get lucky and there’ll be a small memory core. Burnham, head down to sickbay and see if our guest can tell you what happened.” 

“Sir?” 

“It may be better if she speaks with a possibly familiar but non-parental face first. We don't know what the situation is in her world and given your close relationship with Ensign Tilly here, and I assume in the Mirror Universe, you might be able to get her to talk. And Tyler, see what you can find out about the Nebula. Check Starfleet’s logs to see if anyone else has been here recently and whether they saw anything unusual.” 

They were all dismissed, but Burnham remained seated.

“Something to add, Commander?” 

“Yes, Sir. Permission to speak freely?”

“Go on.”

“I would recommend that Tilly is informed. I know that I suggested otherwise on the bridge, however, given the girl’s paternity and Tilly’s required visits to sickbay following her return, it may be prudent to inform her of our passenger rather than it being an awkward encounter. I would be happy to inform her myself on the way to sickbay.” 

Pike pondered the offer. It would most definitely be the easier way to deal with this 'situation'. He could pass the responsibility on to someone else, be the typical captain and delegate, and let Burnham have the awkward conversation. But the reason they needed to have that conversation at all was that, in an alternate reality, he had created a life, and so it was not only his Captain's duty but his as a man. 

"No it's alright, Burnham, I will inform Ensign Tilly."

Burnham paused momentarily. She sensed a slight change in Pike's body language which gave her the impression that he may be anxious or nervous.

The last few months onboard the Discovery had been interesting, to say the least, keeping Pike and the whole ship on their toes. But the next conversation was going to the strangest and probably the most awkward one yet. He pushed the ship-wide comms button. 

“Ensign Tilly to the Captain's ready room.”

***** ***** ***** *****

Pike tried to remain calm while he waited for Tilly to arrive. He thought about all the different ways that this conversation could go, but calm and collected was definitely the way forward. 

_Calm down, Christopher, what happened didn't make this child._

His heart thumped that little bit faster as his adrenaline spiked. He felt nervous, as though they had been caught; as if their secret was out in the open when really it wasn’t. They hadn't had the chance to talk properly and whilst he didn't want things to become uncomfortable between them by nothing being said, he was becoming steadily concerned about how close to exposure their personal relationship could sail to the wind, given the identity of the girl.

Hearing the chime for the door, he ran his hands over his uniform and took a seat on the couch. Taking a moment, he called for the doors to open. 

“You wanted to see me, Sir?” 

Pike could tell that Tilly was nervous when she entered the room. Since their indiscretion, she blushed every time she saw him. 

"Yes, Ti...Ensign, please take a seat." 

Pike immediately regretted the formal tone that he had set. Tilly nodded, taking her cue from Pike and sitting on the edge of the couch, her gaze only meeting his momentarily. The redness in her cheeks was there before anything was even said.

“How are you feeling?” 

Pike wanted to know that she was okay. He had meant what he had said to her 'that' evening. She looked tired and still not quite one hundred percent, despite her protests. He’d noticed that her eyes would wander, reliving her time in the network. 

“I’m doing okay, thank you, Sir, and thank you for the soup the other day. It was very thoughtful.” 

Pike couldn't hide the smile that crept across his face, knowing that his gesture had been well received. He’d wanted to see her after she had returned, but Pollard had put both Tilly and Cubler in quarantine. Instead of raising any questions about his presence in sickbay so soon, he had sent his mother’s chicken soup and a note telling her that he hoped she felt better soon. 

“Erm… Sir, you didn’t call me here to ask me if I was doing okay, did you?” Tilly’s mind seemed to be running at a million miles an hour, every scenario something potentially disastrous. “Oh god, does someone know? Is that why you need to see me? l haven't told anyone. I wouldn't dream of telling anyone about what happened?” 

Pike frowned at her wave of admissions. _She wouldn't dream of telling anyone_. Pike was concerned that, after having time to reflect, she felt that he had taken advantage of her, abused his position as Captain.

Tilly appeared to see the thoughts running through Pike's brain.

“Oh, I didn't mean it like that! I meant that I didn't want anyone to know until we know what's going on. I'm not ashamed of what happened... that it happened. It's just… I like that it's just between us. Unless you’ve changed your mind about what you said because I would understand?” Tilly couldn't bear to hold his gaze for fear of giving him an easy out, something which might mean that things between them would go back to normal. Instead, the tiniest loose thread on her uniform became the most interesting thing in the world.

“Changed my mind? What...no, no, I haven't.” He smiled at her, trying to show her that there was no reason to be worried. “And I'm not ashamed either. But that's not why I asked you to come here. We recovered a stranded shuttle this morning when we arrived at the nebula, with one female life sign on board. Engineering is currently working on it and the passenger has been evac'd to sickbay."

Pike rose from the couch, ordering two coffees from the replicator. He wanted to remain as calm as he could given the girl’s appearance and dealing with things between himself and Tilly. He felt clueless about explaining the shuttle and the DNA results, and despite the gold on his shoulder and all the decisions he had made prior to this moment, he didn’t know whether he should sit, stand or propose marriage to try and make things right with the universe. 

"Mmm, yeah," Tilly acknowledged, taking a sip of her coffee. "I was in the cargo bay when you asked to see me."

"The shuttle we have, the ship's computer was unable to identify its quantum signature. Burnham ran the tests and it came back inconclusive."

Tilly sat up a little, her posture a little tense. "The quantum signature...does it mean...is the shuttle Terran?”

"No. Doctor Pollard ran preliminary tests on the passenger and it's confirmed that she is not Terran. However, Burnham believes that, given what the Doctor has discovered in her DNA, she is from another reality.” 

Tilly tilted her head slightly, as though unsure of what was making the Captain so nervous. “So why are _you_ telling me this? Surely I’d be told about all of this in the Engineering debrief?”

It was Pike’s moment to explain the unexplainable. 

“The girl we’ve brought on board is related to us.” 

Tilly didn't say anything, instead choosing to finish her coffee, as though Pike had said nothing of importance. He knew that she knew what he meant, but she said nothing.

“Well, that can't be right, can it? I mean, I don't have any biological relatives bar my mom and it's not like we have…?” Tilly shook her head, as though in the hopes that what was being said would disappear into the ether. “_We_ don't have any children. Alternate realities are copies of our lives in this one, so how can she be? We aren't even a 'we' in this reality, so scientifically it's got to be a mistake."

Pike handed Tilly the report. 

“The girl in sickbay isn’t a sibling. She's your daughter.” 

Tilly sat and stared at the results. Her eyes were wide and her breathing became controlled so that she wouldn't hyperventilate.

“But I don't want children; well, not yet at least." 

Tilly paused. The gravity of what she had just been told started to take root. 

“Wait, who, who is the other person, I mean, the father? Do I know him? Please tell me that it's not Rhys!”

It was Pike’s turn to be a little confused. 

“Rhys?”

“He’s asked me out a couple of times but I’m not interested right now."

“Actually, you do know him.” 

Pike took the PADD from her, swiped, and handed it back. 

Tilly started to properly read the results.

“The other person,” Pike said, “the girl’s father, is me.”

Tilly stood up from the sofa and paced. 

“Tilly?” 

Pike dropped the formal tone; he was a little concerned that she had yet to say anything. 

“How is she our dau...no, wait don't answer that. How is it possible? No, don’t answer that either.”

She paced around the table, clearly trying to make sense in her mind of the situation.

Pike sat and watched her. The cogs in her mind were clicking over, until she stopped moving.

“What's her name? Can I meet her? Is she hurt? How did she get here in just a shuttle? Do we know anything about her universe? Is she in sickbay on her own?” 

It was as though a switch had been flipped; Tilly's maternal instinct seemed to pour out of her in waves. 

Pike stood from the couch, placing his arms on Tilly's shoulders to stop her from pacing around. 

He was faced with a very confused and concerned set of eyes staring back at him. They had not been this close since they had been in turbo lift together. 

"I know that you have a hundred questions on top of the ones that everyone else has, but we need to take this slowly. I don't want to jump straight in because we might scare her. We need to tread carefully." 

A slight chuckle escaped Tilly. "_We need to tread carefully_, says the guy who throws himself on grenades."

"Okay, I asked for that one." Her lighthearted dig made him smile. "We have to go slowly. We don't know anything about her. We could both be dead in her reality, for all we know, and seeing us both alive, who knows what that might do to her." Tilly nodded, as though remembering the events and people that they’d met in the mirror universe. "I've asked Burnham to go to sickbay. Saru is speaking to engineering and Tyler is checking out the Nebula. And," Pike pulled Tilly in that little bit closer; could feel her relax in his arms. “No, we don't know her name yet.”


End file.
